Ritual Decalogue

Body Ritual Among The Nacirema Analysis I believe that the Nacirema practice magical beliefs because they believe that the human body isn’t strong enough on it’s own, and can help it, by using magic to achieve it. They continue to practice it because it is their tradition, and has been apart of their culture for countless years. The overall, “the fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease.”…

‘Sacred’ rituals provide a sense of community is an effective statement because it brings people together to celebrate occasions and connects with the whole tradition, like celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and getting socialised into the tradition, as shown in source 3. The image indicates that people are celebrating Christmas as a community. However, not all people engage in this celebration because it is not sacred to them or might believe in different religions, where they do not…

Funeral customs, rites, and culture are the methods and ceremonies used in our societies in the disposing of the bodies of the dead people. The communities around the world have always had a reverence for the dead. Each tradition has its own ways doing funerals like some keep their way of dressing or viewing the body. Undoubtedly, there are similarities of funeral customs, rites, and cultures between my country Tanzania and the information I learned from Rebecca Romanosky, our tour guide. The…

Anthesteria is the festivals in honour of Dionysus, the God of wine. Anthesteria is held each year for three days in the month of Anthesterion (February–March) celebrating the beginning of spring and the maturing of the wine stored from previous years. On the first day of the festival (Pithoigia, or “Jar Opening”) tributes were offered to Dionysus from the newly opened wine. The second day (Choes, or “Wine Jugs”) was a time of popular merrymaking typified by wine-drinking contests in which even…

Around the world, various cultures perform rituals at monumental stages of one's life. Numerous occasions such as marriages and birthdays are ritualized and have distinct celebratory traditions that are unique to specific cultures and groups. In particular, the transformation of a person from an ordinary citizen to a warrior, has many unique and diverse celebrations and responses. Cultures around the world acknowledge this transformation through celebratory traditions often including dancing,…

Jolene Prince is a pipe carrier for a sweat lodge, she helps run the ceremonies for a sweat lodge. The ceremonies of the sweat lodge include rites of preparation, prayer, and purification. Many Aboriginal people claim it as an important spiritual tradition, widely shared and important for their aboriginal identity. The sweat lodge plays a very significant role in the lives of Aboriginal communities in their efforts to bring about personal and social healing, having participants emerge from the…

Navajo Rugs Navajo rugs have been around since the 17 century. The rugs where used to trade for items the weaver wanted. Soon after they started to have unique designs on them to capture the buyer’s eye. The rug its self looks unbelievably good because it is made of wool. I like the rugs my grandma makes because that are always unique and very in sizes. Every rugs that she’s made always look great and everyone would want one. The rug she made spells my last name across it. In the early 17…

Death rituals vary from culture to culture. One of the most iconic and controversial death rituals in history would be the art of mummification. Mummification is a death ritual most associated to Egyptians as early as AGE PERIOD. The process of mummification was a lengthy process, and reserved mostly for the wealthy upper class Egyptians, such as Pharaohs. The people that performed mummification were usually priests that had studied the human anatomy and were very respected within the…

My first reaction to the reading of Body Ritual among the Nacirema by Horace Miner: it was an eye-opening reading experience. I was unaware that this level of primitive magic was still practiced in North America. This group of people do things that have been unheard of in North America and Europe for centuries. Some of the things the Medicine men do make very little sense from a medical stand point. If the treatment is harsher than the disease that has been contracted, is it worth the treatment?…

When looking at the three cultures of the Moche, the Qin, and the Egyptians, it is clear to see that these cultures hold a strong belief in the afterlife. As archaeological evidence has shown, many special burials of ancient leaders were buried with artifacts. It was believed that these dead leaders would go on to another life and bring these artifacts with them. The artifacts also served as an indicator of the importance of these leaders. In 1987, grave robbers unearthed a spectacular,…